448 
■THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [January 2, i838. 
To the Editor of the " Ceylon Observer?' 
CINCHONA BARK AND THE EXTRACTION OF 
QUINETUM NEAR THE SOURCE OF 
PRODUCTION. 
14, Victoria Grove, Kensington, 
London W., 20th October 1887. 
Deab Sir, — In reference to the " facts, deductions 
and proposals" and proposal, for an Association of 
all those who are interested in the cultivation of 
cinchona with the object of increasing the 
consumption of the cinchona alkaloids, I had 
better mention that I am working in the 
matter now in combination with influential men, 
that we have decided that it would not be advis- 
able to prepare "quinetum" in the East for 
several reasons, one reason being that the cost of 
exporting the chemicals for the manufacture would 
cost as much as to convey the poor bark to England. 
I hope soon to be able to send you something 
definite with regard to the scheme for the Associ- 
ation.— Yours faithfully, W. T. HODY COX. 
CEYLON TEA AT THE EXHIBITIONS. 
England, Nov. 5th. 
Deab Sie, — Your remarks and the letters in your 
Overland issue of Oct. 8th, respecting the repre- 
sentation of Ceylon tea at the Exhibitions to be 
held in Glasgow and Melbourne, induce me to 
offer a few suggestions on that subject. 
It is evident that the vastly increasing production 
of Ceylon teas is bound to depress their value most 
seriously in the immediate future unless it is possible 
to make the demand keep pace with the supply. 
Their great adversary — Indian tea — will be certain 
to fight them in price most keenly during the 
next few years, and the similarity in the two 
growths is so great as to enable the retailers here 
to use whichever is the cheaper, unless it is possible 
to so educate the public taste, as to induce pur- 
chasers to insist on having Ceylon teas. This end 
is materially assisted by the new Trade Marks 
Protection Act, which makes it penal to wrongly 
describe any article of commerce, so that it will 
now be very risky for persons to call any tea 
Ceylon tea, if it is not so. This fraud has been 
practiced already. Up to the present a sufficient 
demand has been created to secure for Ceylon teas 
exceptionally high prices, but this state of things 
cannot continue without an effort is at once made, 
to widen the demand immensely. 
The Ceylon teahouse at the Colonial Exhibition 
produced an incalculable effect in popularizing 
the tea in London and England, and it is certain 
that a similar result would follow a like effort in 
other places. 
If nothing is done the demand falls off and so does 
the price. A drop of one penny per lb. on your estim- 
ated crop for next year (24,000,000 lb.) means, £ 100,000 
loss to the planters, and the fall would not be 
measured by one penny per lb. It is not expected 
that India will cease producing increasingly, and 
many think that China will make up presently and 
flood the market ; then if Ceylon teas are not able 
to monopolize a considerable share of public favour, 
they will have to be sold at prices not at present 
contemplated, for it must be borne in mind that 
the consumption of tea in Great Britain does not 
increase to any extent now, and that therefore Cey- 
lon teas have to supplant those other growths at 
present in use. This it can do, if rightly handled. 
Mr. Rutherford's estimate of cost for the two tea- 
houses in Glasgow and Melbourne is not too much 
to pay for the advantage that will be gained, but 
a great work might be done for a considerably greater 
sum ; and why not do the thing thoroughly ? Spend a 
few thousands of pounds on each Exhibition and 
it will produce a return such as could not be ob- 
tained by a lucky gold digger. — Yours faithfully, 
P. S. V., AN ENGLISH TEA AGENT. 
AN ENEMY OF TEA. 
Kelburne, Haputale, 9th Nov. 1887. 
Dear Sie, — By today's tappal I send you a poochie 
found in the stem of a tea plant (standing about 
8 inches high) in the nursery. It looks to me to 
be a species of borer, and I should like to know 
whether any of your numerous correspondents have 
discovered this pest in any of their nurseries. — 
Yeurs truly, ARCH. C. CHAMBEBLIN. 
[We regret that this letter has been overlooked. 
The enclosure unfortunately escaped en route : a 
borer should not have been sent in a match-box. — 
Ed.] 
ORANGE CULTIVATION IN MALTA AND ITALY: 
INTRODUCTION AND CULTIVATION OF THE 
FINER KINDS IN CEYLON. 
Udapussellawa, 11th Nov. 1887. 
Dear Sie, — Five years ago, whilst visiting the 
San Antonio gardens, near Valletta, I asked the 
superintendent to make up a wardian case of orange 
grafts which I sent on to Ceylon. On my return I 
had some difficulty in tracing the trees, but I have 
still three, two sweet oranges and an egg, which 
are now bearing heavily. The blood variety I have 
lost. The fruit has no pips and a distinct flavour 
of its own. The blood is by far the most luscious 
type of the orange tribe and should be introduced 
into Ceylon. It is a common idea accepted by 
intelligent people that the claret colour of the pulp 
and juice is produced by grafting on a pomegranate 
stock. I recollect mentioning this to my friend Dr. 
Stillon, the popular medico savant of Valletta, who 
was much amused at the notion.* Under his auspices 
I saw a good deal of the careful and laborious 
cultivation which goes on, under cover of those high 
limestone walls, which render the neighbourhood so 
dreary — large tanks are dug out of the solid lime- 
stone underground for the storage of the rain water. 
The excavated stone is used in building the 
surrounding walls (and each enclosure is not more 
than 40 ft. square) which are necessary to shelter 
the trees from the cold winds which blow from 
the north-east as well as from the Sirocco which 
occasionally sweeps across from the African Con- 
tinent. A very limited number of trees are grown 
in each square, which are watered daily, until the 
fruit is within a month of maturity. In a dry 
climate like Malta (24 inches per annum) water 
is the first necessity, every drop which falls from 
the clouds is conserved — and sometimes the tanks 
are replenished from the aqueduct (nine miles long) 
which supplies the city and garrison with the best 
of water brought from the springs of Citta Vecchia. 
Payment is made at so much per hour for a 3 
inch pipe run of water, but cannot always be 
procured at any price. The careful cultivation, the 
soil which answers all the conditions required by the 
culture, the concentrated heat from the walls and its 
radiation at night assimilate to hothouse glass cul- 
ture and all combine to produce a fruit which is simply 
superb. The oranges exhibited for sale in the market 
are chiefly Tangier. The choice bloods are mostly 
sent to London and Paris, where they command 
extreme prices, "Does it pay?" I asked a Maltese 
gentleman. "That I cannot say," was the prompt 
"♦We should think so, the trees having no affinity. 
Dr. Bonavia's article, which we have given in the Tropical 
Agriculturist, shows that the " blood orange " has been 
successfully introduced into India. — Ed. 
